After a summer of plaudits and outstanding social media content Todd Cantwell discover life’s cruel realities at Rigby Park on Saturday.
The former golden boy of Norwich City has always had a bloated opinion of himself, landing at Ibrox in January was perfect for his ego.
In a squad with virtually no flair other than the step-overs of Ryan Kent the new lad with golden hair and a blue ribbon was instantly celebrated and promoted way beyond his skill levels.
When he lost three matches last April alongside his Bromance partner Nico Raskin it was all to do with the lack of quality in their team-mates. As James Tavernier might say it will be a different story next season.
Eventually the total rose to nine new signings through the summer as Micky Beale brought in his own men to put Celtic in their place. Players that the rookie boss had looked in the eyes to ensure that they had the mentality to don the jersey of the club founded by Charles Green in the summer of 2012.
One of the new boys signed was Sam Lammers. A non-scoring striker with six competitive goals to his name over the last three seasons. Beale could resolve that but the solution wasn’t to Cantwell’s liking.
Lammers was taken out of the forward line, played as an advanced midfielder- the role that Cantwell had excelled in during the May dead-rubbers.
Absolutely no one is bullying this lad https://t.co/tiSLHb987h pic.twitter.com/G7ZIRA6UVv
— Tam sellic son (@TamseIIicsonIII) August 6, 2023
When the teams for Rugby Park were announced there was one selection that was unexpected. Lammers in with the TikTok legend on the bench. Body language experts were all over it as Cantwell went through his pre-match warm up with the enthusiasm of Alfredo Morelos on his return from Colombia.
After 62 minutes Cantwell got the call to replace Kieran Dowell, four minutes later Kilmarnock went in front thanks to a howler from John Souttar.
With half an hour to impress Cantwell showed the form and attitude that Norwich were delighted to see the back of in January.
The incident above with Daniel Armstrong summed him up, the golden boy on his backside as the grafter battled to hold on to his win bonus.
Beale faces a very interesting time as he tries to piece together a team to beat Servette while keeping his bloated squad happy.
Does he stick with his summer signings or trust that Cantwell can recapture his May form against organised, motivated and very physical opponents.
Unless a home win is served up to the fans the aftermath at Kilmarnock will be a tea party compared to 50,000 angry bears preparing for another season of misery while being patronised by well paid passengers talking the talk but unable to deliver the results demanded.
